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Families with ties to Clemson’s history return

By MICHAEL EADS Anderson Independent-Mail

Aug 5 2013 12:10 am

AP Photo/The Independent-Mail, Mike Eads
Earl Baumgardner, center, and his twin, 15-year-old sons Brock, left, and Benjamin, of Montgomery, Ala., admire their family’s portrait of Andrew Pickens Jr., former South Carolina governor and son of Revolutionary War Gen. Andrew Pickens Sr., at Hopewell Plantation in Clemson. The painting was on display at Hopewell Plantation, ancestral home to the Pickens family.

CLEMSON — A recent reunion of families with historic ties to Clemson could begin the transformation of the university’s historic homes and collections.

Nearly 100 people from families connected to Hopewell Plantation (home of Revolutionary War Gen. Andrew Pickens), Fort Hill (home of former U.S. Vice President John C. Calhoun and Clemson founders Thomas Green Clemson and Anna Calhoun Clemson) and Hanover House spent a weekend visiting those sites and perusing collections of period items and documents.

Hopewell is one of Clemson University’s top restoration targets.

Attendees ate a barbecue lunch and toured the home of Gen. Pickens and several of his descendants, including his son the former South Carolina Gov. Andrew Jr. Several pieces from the university’s period collection were displayed, as well as a few brought by attendees. The house needs costly restoration work, including fire suppression equipment, before pieces can be on permanent display there.

Andrew Pickens Miller, former attorney general of Virginia and a speaker at the barbecue, led a campaign to restore the Richmond, Va., home of U.S. Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.

The landmark Marbury v. Madison decision that Marshall authored established judicial review and gave the Supreme Court the ultimate power to interpret the constitutionality of state and federal laws.

“He said, ‘I know you’re thinking of trying to do something with respect to Hopewell,”’ said Miller, who came away from the meeting with a promise that Hopewell would get consideration when Pickens does his next round of charitable giving early next year.

Miller told his fellow Pickens descendants that such restoration work is necessary and doable – with help from everyone.

“They don’t have to be million-dollar donations,” Miller said. “We need to outfit the house, too. Think of what you may have in your possession that has some Pickens connection and think of giving it to Clemson in hopes that Hopewell can come alive.”

Earl Baumgardner may have just such a piece for the restored Hopewell. He and his 15-year-old twin sons, Brock and Benjamin, came to the event at Clemson from Montgomery, Ala., with a portrait of Andrew Pickens Jr. to show the other attendees.

The former governor is portrayed seated, wearing his lieutenant colonel’s uniform from the War of 1812.

Anyone wanting to learn more about the university’s restoration and programming plans for its historic properties can visit clemson.edu/about/history/properties.

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